ARTICLE I: NAME

The name of the organization shall be “Independent Baptist Camping Association.”

ARTICLE II: PURPOSE

Realizing the great rewards which a camping program can produce both for the edification of the Christians and salvation of the lost, it is thus our purpose to maintain a camping program for Independent Baptist Churches and others who might avail themselves of the opportunity.

Our purpose to be realized that a well-balanced program is provided, which will include: Bible Studies, Missionary Challenges, Practical Christian Living, Instruction, Wholesome Recreation, and an emphasis on a close counselor-camper relationship.

ARTICLE III: GOVERNMENT

The control of said Association shall be vested in the Independent Baptist Churches that are members of the Association.

ARTICLE IV: MEMBERSHIP

Section 1.  The membership of this Association shall be made up of Independent Baptist Churches.  No church shall be admitted that is affiliated with or in sympathy with the Ecumenical Movement, Modernism, Neo-orthodoxy, or New Evangelicalism.
Section 2.  All churches seeking membership shall ratify with no mental reservations the “Articles of Faith” contained herein, and must be examined and recommended by the board of Directors to the Association and may be elected to membership at any meeting of the Association by a two-thirds vote of those present.
Section 3.  It is expected that all churches in this Association shall help support and maintain the camping program (volunteer labor, financial assistance, etc.).  Further, each church agrees to work under the framework of the Constitution.

ARTICLE V: OFFICERS

Section 1.  A Board of Directors shall be responsible for the total camping program of the Association.
Section 2.  A Board of Directors shall consist of twelve (12) members.  No more than three Directors from any one church; seven (7) Directors shall be pastors and five (5) shall be laymen, from member churches.  Three (3) shall be elected every year to serve a four year term.
Section 3.  Membership churches shall submit their nominee(s) for the Board of Directors to the Board Secretary by August 1st.  b. Nominees will indicate their willingness to serve by completing a Nominee Process, which shall include 1) filling out an application form and 2) participating in an orientation with the board  or their designees by the end of September. c. A final ballot of the nominees for Board of Directors will be made available at least ten (10) days prior to the annual meeting. (More than one may be nominated from any one church.)
Section 4.  A Director may succeed himself, but a ratio of seven (7) pastors to five (5) laymen must be maintained at all times.
Section 5.  Vacancies on the Board of Directors shall be filled by appointment by the Board of Directors. Such appointed Directors shall serve until the Annual Meeting at which time the balance of the term will be filled by general election.
Section 6.  As soon as deemed practical, following each annual Meeting, the Board of Directors shall meet and organize themselves in the following manner: Chairman, Clerk, and Treasurer. Officers remaining on the Board shall continue in the same capacity until reorganization. The Board may, at its discretion, appoint a “Bookkeeper(s)” who is (are) not a Board Member and who shall serve with the direct oversight of the Treasurer and the Board of Directors. The Board may appoint any committees as the need arises.
Section 7.  The Board of Directors shall have power to manage the routine business of the Association and administer the camping program; provided, however, that the purchase or sale of real property, the incurring of indebtedness in excess of 5% of the current annual budget, or the making of expenditures of more than 5% of the current annual budget, shall require prior approval of the Association.
Section 8.  Six (6) members of the Board shall constitute a quorum.

ARTICLE VI: MEETINGS AND ELECTIONS

Section 1.  The Annual Meeting of the Association shall be held, in the Autumn each year, the time and place to be announced at least one month prior to the meeting.
Section 2.  Each member church shall send four voting messengers to sit together and to transact business pertaining to the Association, and hear reports of the Directors, Deans and Committees, and elect members to the Board of Directors.
Section 3.  The Chairman of the Board of Directors shall preside at all meetings and the Secretary of the board shall act as Clerk.
Section 4.  A quorum shall consist of all messengers present at the time and place designated in the announcement of the annual meeting.
Section 5.  A special meeting of the Association may be called by a majority vote of the board of Directors.

ARTICLE VII: SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

It is the intent of this Association to maintain the historic Baptist policy of separation of church and state.

ARTICLE VIII: DOCTRINAL STATEMENT

We believe in:

  1. The verbal plenary inspiration and authority of the Scriptures.
  2. God as a Trinity of three Persons and one essence.
  3. The Deity and virgin birth of Jesus Christ.
  4. The personality and Deity of the Holy Spirit.
  5. The fall of man, the total depravity and subsequent guilt and universally lost condition of the human race.
  6. Salvation as the free gift of God by grace through faith in the substitutionary blood atonement of Christ.
  7. Permanency of salvation once received.
  8. The physical, bodily resurrection of Christ from the dead.
  9. The universal, invisible Church composed of all believers.
  10. The local Church composed of immersed believers organized for the edification of the saints and the spreading of the Gospel.
  11. The local Church as God’s primary instrument in accomplishing His work in this age.
  12. The gifts of the Holy Spirit for this age which include Evangelist, Pastor-teacher, helps, administration, exhortation, giving, showing mercy, faith. The sign gifts gradually ceased as the New Testament Scriptures were completed and their authority became established.
  13. The separation of the believer from all religious apostasy, all worldly and sinful pleasures, practices and associations.
  14. The personality of Satan and other spirit beings both good and evil.
  15. The visible, personal, pre-tribulation, pre-millennial return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
  16. The resurrection and everlasting conscious blessedness of the saved, and everlasting punishment of the unsaved.

ARTICLE IX: AMENDMENTS

This Constitution may be amended at the annual meeting of the Association by a two-thirds vote of the messengers present and voting, provided that proposed amendments are submitted to the member churches one month prior to the meeting.